A judge’s decision to throw out a lawsuit by a group of casino critics seeking to halt Wynn Resorts’ plans for an Everett gaming palace doesn’t bode well for Mayor Martin J. Walsh and his own legal spat with the casino mogul, one expert said.
“It doesn’t look very good for him,” said Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor and gaming expert who has followed the legal jousting over Wynn’s $1.7 billion casino proposal.
Judge Janet L. Sanders, who dismissed the taxpayers’ suit, also is overseeing suits City Hall has brought against Wynn and the Mass- achusetts Gaming Commission, which are separate from the taxpayer group.
“She was incredibly skeptical of the mayor’s suit as it was already,” McGowan said. “And I think (the taxpayers’ suit) had more merit than Walsh’s. I would not be surprised that she doesn’t dismiss the city’s suits, too.”
Sanders’ 12-page order — which was dated last week but surfaced publicly yesterday — dismissed a lawsuit brought by 40 taxpayers, MBTA riders and casino critics, who argued that the T’s decision to sell three parcels of land to Wynn for $6 million violated state public bidding laws.
Sanders said the group didn’t have legal standing to sue, writing that the sale didn’t directly cost taxpayers money. But her order also noted that the state opened a 30-day window for other bids — no competing offers were submitted, Sanders wrote — and she addressed concerns that the deal violated the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act.
Sanders agreed that it violated MEPA because the land was transferred before the review was completed, but she noted the administration “almost immediately corrected” what she called a “procedural error” by putting the land in escrow during the review.
“This court concludes there is no ongoing ‘damage to the environment’ so as to allow the plaintiffs to proceed,” Sanders wrote.
Walsh filed a lawsuit last month, challenging the environmental certification Wynn scored from the Baker administration. Sand- ers already has publicly questioned a separate City Hall suit that claimed Wynn won his casino license through a “corrupt process.”
A Walsh spokeswoman did not return a call for comment yesterday. John Ribeiro, who headed the group Repeal the Casino Deal and was part of the group that filed suit, said the decision is still under review and he otherwise declined comment.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Copyright © 2024 ToCasino.net Online Casino. All Rights Reserved. Designed by